CAMPBELL, Joule (1779-1861). Lord High Chancellor of England. He was the son of a Presbyterian minister of Cupar, County of Fife, Scotland, where he was born in 1779. He was at first destined for his father's calling, and was sent at an early age to the neighboring Uni versity of Saint Andrews. But he had no in clination for a clerical life, and, when he had completed his academic studies, at the age of 19, he went to London and engaged in newspaper work. At the same time he became a student in Lincoln's Inn, where he was a pupil of the dis tinguished special pleader Samuel Warren, and in 1806 was called to the bar. While waiting for clients he became a court reporter and pub lished four volumes of reports with learned notes. Notwithstanding his good sense and re markable industry, success at the bar came slowly, probably owing to a. certain hardness of disposition and the lack of attractive personal qualities. It was not until he had been at the bar twenty-one years, in 1827, that be was made a King's counsel. From this time on, however, his promotion was rapid. In 1830 he entered Parliament, where his zeal, his capacity for hard work, and attention to details made him a valuable member and a useful supporter of the Whig Party. He devoted himself with character istic energy and persistency to the amelioration of some of the harsh and cumbrous features of the law; and his name is asoeiated with several beneficial statutes of this character. He failed, however, in his favorite project of bringing about a general registry of land titles in England, such as exists in the United States, and this reform still remains to be effected iu that country. In 1827 he was made the head of the great Real Property Commission, which made a searching inquiry into the state of the real property laws of England. and whose reports and recommenda tions have proved of inestimable value to subse quent generations of law reformers.
Campbell was an ardent supporter of Lord John Russell's first Reform Bill in 1831, was made Solicitor-General in 1832, and two years later was knighted and promoted to the post of Attor ney-General. In the same year he was chosen the
representative in Parliament for Edinburgh. He continued to represent Edinburgh down to 1841. and remained in the office of Attorney-General during that period, with the exception of the short time in 1835 when the Conservatives were in power. In 18'41 he was made Chancellor of Ireland and a peer of the United Kingdom with the title of Baron Campbell of Saint Andrews, but held the office of Chancellor for only a few months, when the Melbourne Cabinet left office, necessitating his resignation. For the first time since boyhood. he found himself without regular daily labor. and at the mature age of Gu set to work to win the literary Lame eh he professed always to have secretly coveted. His first pub lication was a collection of his speeches at the bar and in the House of Commons. For three or four years after the publication of his speeches Campbell was engaged in the preparation of the Lire's of the Chancellors, the first series of which appeared in 1845. In 1846 he joined the Russell Cabinet in the capacity of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His ministerial duties were not sufficiently arduous to interrupt his literary labors. and he proceeded to complete the Lives of the Chancellors, and to publish a sup plemental series of Lives of the Chief Justices of Englund. Both works have enjoyed great popu larity, but leave no doubt that the author was more fitted for a practical lawyer than for a man of letters. Though executed in a sprightly man ner, these writings are without grace of style and represent to a painful degree the envy, the prejudices. and the want of sympathy which were leading traits of Campbell's character. He re turned to more congenial labors in 1850, when lie was appointed to succeed Demnan as Chief Justice. He held the office for nine years, at the end of which he received the Chancellorship of England. He died in June, ]SG]. His Life has been written by his daughter (1881).